thinkpad

Straddling the divide between ultraportable and mainstream notebook, Lenovo's ThinkPad T400s squeezes a business-friendly 14.1-inch LED-backlit display, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and integrated WWAN into a chassis just 0.83-inches thick. SlashGear had the opportunity for a pre-release hands-on; check out our first impressions after the cut, together with some preliminary T400s benchmarks.

Considering a new Lenovo ThinkPad in the next nine months? You'll be interested in the latest leaked notebook roadmap from the company, then, which tips such delights as the Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - which we last saw being run over by a 26k pound truck - as dropping in mid-July, plus a storm of new Intel Calpella-based machines arriving in early 2010.

The first image and set of rumored specs for the ThinkPad T400s was leaked a few days ago. While Lenovo is still mum about the release date, price or specs come these two videos of the T400s. The first video demonstrates just how well built and tough this thing is. No worries, I won’t spoil the ending for you – just make sure to click on over to watch it get run over by a 26,000 pound DOW truck. The second video shows the T400s getting physically abused by the “tornado chasing” team members. It’s a crime treating such a great laptop this way!

We got a look at the latest Lenovo ThinkPad T400s today now that new images have leaked out. This new slim model is only 0.83-inches thick, bringing down the size considerably from the 1.12-inch thick original T400 model.

Lenovo Canada are offering ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC buyers a newly-expanded range of processor options, more than twice as many as US buyers can configure their touchscreen ultraportables with. The Canadian X200 gets not only a choice of the original SU9300 1.20GHz and SL9400 1.86GHz CPUs as the US model, but up to a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo SL9600 low-voltage chip.

According to a leak, Lenovo is apparently working on a new ThinkPad X200 that features a CULV processor. While this rumor is not confirmed, it would make sense since Lenovo has themselves admitted they are thinking about creating a CULV ThinkPad in the future, though they did not commit to a timeframe.

The ThinkPad X200 models currently feature a SL-series Core 2 Duo processor. This has made the price go up considerably, but with a 1.2GHz Celeron M chip, the cost would decrease, as would the voltage use. The new system would also have a 160GB hard drive and 2GB of memory.

Pricing is not known, nor is a release date. It may not even come to pass. We'll just have to wait and see. But it would make sense in this economy for Lenovo to be looking to drop their price point a bit.

Lenovo's existing IdeaPad netbooks are sturdy, safe choices in the segment, but they could soon gain a ThinkPad-branded sibling. Likely targeted more at business use, compared to the consumer-focused IdeaPad line, the ThinkPad netbook is not yet confirmed, but according to Lenovo's Worldwide Competitive Analyst Matthew Kohut, "it's an area [Lenovo are] exploring."

After the cut, why Atom may not be the CPU for the new ThinkPad netbook

We can't get enough of the MSI X-Slim X340 ultraportable here at SlashGear, and after catching up with MSI themselves at CTIA this week this is one notebook we're really looking forward to trying out. You can see our video demo of the X340 here, but if you're wondering just how thin the latest X-Slim is, NewGadgets' photoshoot should prove educational.

Lenovo has announced that eight of its ThinkPad notebooks have passed military-standards for ruggedization, making them not only resistant to pressure, humidity, temperature, dust and vibration, but to a greater extent than some "mil-spec" rivals. The ThinkPad X200, X301, X200s, X200 Tablet, T400, T500, R400 and SL300 all passed durability tests despite not being specifically marketed as ruggedized models.

Lenovo's ThinkPad W700ds may have been around for a few weeks, but CES has been the first opportunity we at SlashGear have had to play with the dual-display behemoth. Based on Lenovo's original W700, complete with a Wacom graphics digitizer integrated into the palm rest, the W700ds adds a pull-out 10.6-inch LCD display that slides from the main 17-inch panel. It's an interesting concept, but our hands-on impressions leave us wondering if the compromises are worth it.